 The population health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have been less well understood in low and middle-income countries, such as India, where mortality surveillance prior to the pandemic was patchy. To interpret the limited Alka's mortality data available in India, researchers used existing data on Alka's mortality from civil registration systems of 12 Indian states, which account for approximately 60 percent of the country's population. They then compared the pandemic period to 2019, estimating excess mortality in these states and extrapolating their findings to the rest of India. They found that the number of deaths increased by 28 percent relative to 2019, during April 2020 to May 2021. If this increase applied nationwide, it would mean that there were 2.8 to 2.9 million excess deaths. Researchers also explored different assumptions about the data, finding that the scale of estimated excess deaths was broadly consistent with expectations based on seroprevalence and COVID-19 fatality rates observed internationally. Additionally, they noted that the timing of excess deaths and This article was authored by Murad Banaji and Ashish Gupta. We are article.tv, links in the description below.